Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

Direct connection between art behavior and social issue is not the only eye-catching theme of The Land Project—Adherents of the Golden Brick, yet it remains an aspect of this performance worth praising—XIAO Zi-Han Dance Troupe ignites dialectics of aesthetics and social issues, displaying ethics’ direct ability to take actions and echoing the recent concerns of contemporary arts regarding intervention of art in society.

The performance took place in the already destroyed/removed Hua Kuang community in Taipei. Among broken bricks and garbage, the realistic text displayed through the powerful sense exerted by the ruined site and the narrative text reenacted by the body languages of the dancers and the storyline directly accuse the government, the powerful and capitalist groups for violence committed to this soil. At a site monitored and controlled by the government, a performance like this was like a strike mission; participating viewers were like supporters of the protest. Under real circumstances, the pressure of being monitored, cheated, and lack of freedom felt by performers and viewers is the direct metaphor of the pains of losing one’s physical body and right of abode. (Written by CHI Hui-Ling)

Artwork Introduction

Adherents of the Golden Bricks, staged in Huaguang Community in November 2013, is a dance performance with free admission and without fixed seating. After each session, audiences are invited to join a talk with those related to the sites of contended issues where the performances take place, positing the production between social movement and performing arts, while enabling audiences to engage in caring about the land from different angles. 

From issues related to Dapu in Miaoli, the Beautiful Bay Resort, nuclear power plants, wiretapping, etc., XIAO Zi-Han Dance Troupe aims to adopt more diverse, intriguing and in-depth forms so that people inhabiting this land have an opportunity to see pluralistic values in a tender yet powerful way.

About the Artist

The XIAO Zi- Han Dance Troupe engages the public with sites of contended issues through dance, and creates a dance theater embodying the idea of “delving into the value of the lower stratum by stepping into earth.” The creator-choreographer XIAO Zi-Han feels strongly about the various social issues facing the Taiwan society, including land and forced demolition, to re-consider the relationship between land and people. Consequently, she gathers a group of professional and amateur dancers to deeply explore the sites of contended issues. After thorough field research, they conduct the performances at these sites with the belief – “to be a person first, then a dancer.”